Definition of "pink"

Jasper couldn't have known they'd been overheard upstairs, but his little smirk coming and going invited you to guess he'd been up to something. He had the pink of sex about him still.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, page 228

Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy.

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iv]

I had taken it for granted that there would be people ‘in pink’, but these enormous confident strangers overwhelmed me with the visible authenticity of their brick-red coats.

1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 23

it is interesting to note the curious legend that the pink of the hunting field is not due to any optical advantage but to an entirely different reason.

1986, Michael J. O'Shea, James Joyce and Heraldry, SUNY, page 69

My own guess is that there are some pinks in the State Department and in other government departments and agencies, and of course they should be found and ousted; but it seems to me that this can be done without besmirching innocent people and without making such broadside charges that people will lose faith in all government.

1981, Edwin R. Bayley, quoting Ben Hibbs, Joe McCarthy and the Press, page 163

Then Eddie did what he calls, 'Two in the pink, one in the stink.' “I held up my right forefinger and middle finger and said, “Two.” Then I held up my ring finger and said “One. Two in the pussy, one in the ass.”

2020 March 23, Mike Hatch, The Dumb Class: Boomer Junior High, Mike Hatch H&A Publishing, page 78

The word "socialist" has so many connotations that it can cover almost anything from pink liberalism to red-red communism.

1976, Bhalchandra Pundlik Adarkar, The Future of the Constitution: A Critical Analysis

The woman’s pale skin pinked as she shook her head. “No. It’s out of my budget. Come on, Sammy”

2014, Teresa Carpenter, Her Boss by Arrangement‎, page 136

They are all nearly nude, pinked and bronzed by the sun.

1961, Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana‎, New Directions Publishing, published 2009, act II, page 46

The rabbits, still lining the roadside, but now pinked by dawn, craned their necks to follow her departure.

1985, Carl Sagan, chapter 3, in Contact, Simon & Schuster, published 1997, page 57

Because heating is relatively easy to perform once one is trained to do it, it can be assumed that any pink topaz from Brazil, the gem’s main modern producer, is colored more by man than nature. […] Relatively few stones from Brazil have this trace element in enough quantity for what dealers call “pinking.”

2012, David Federman, Modern Jeweler’s Consumer Guide to Colored Gemstones‎, page 227

‘Pugh!’ says she, ‘you have pinked a man in a duel, that's all.’

1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […]

Within three seconds D'Artagnan pinked him thrice, dedicating each thrust as he dealt it. “One for Athos!" he cried. “One for Porthos!" and at the last, “one for Aramis!”

1999 , Jacques Le Clercq, The Three Musketeers, translation of original by Alexandre Dumas, page 187

“Young man, if you have no authority, let me speak to someone who has! Put me through to Mr. Berquist.” The stooge suddenly lost his smile and Jubal thought gleefully that he had at last pinked him.

1961, Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, New York: Avon, page 127

And then the record changed, a piano pinking high a Poulenc-like theme.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 590

A Hungry Fox that had got a Cock in his Eye, and could not tell how to come at him ; cast himself at his Length upon the Ground, and there he lay winking and pinking as if he had Sore Eyes.

1692, Roger L'Estrange, “A Fox and a Cock”, in Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists‎, page 409

Come, thou monarch of the vine, Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne! In thy vats our cares be drowned, With thy grapes our hairs be crowned.

c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene vii]

To make Dutch pink, boil the stems of woad in a solution of alum, and then mix the liquor with clay, marl, or chalk, which will become mixed with the colour of the decoction

1816, Pierre François Tingry, The Painter and Varnisher's Guide‎, page 245

Carlyle (2001) lists from her study of nineteenth century British documentary sources yellow carmine, Dutch pink, English pink and yellow lake in descending order of intensity.

2008, Nicholas Eastaugh, Valentine Walsh, Tracey Chaplin, Pigment Compendium‎, page 156